Iran: CFWIJ Demands Journalist Nooshin Jafari’s Immediate Release

Location: Iran, Tehran
Date: February 19, 2021

Journalist Nooshin Jafari was arrested without notice and transferred to Qarchak Prison to serve a four-year prison sentence. She was sentenced on charges of “spreading anti-establishment propaganda” and “insulting sanctities”. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) condemns the arrest of Nooshin without even a summons notice. We urge the Iranian regime to end intimidating the journalists and demand Nooshin’s release immediately. Journalism is not a crime.

Journalist Nooshin Jafari was arrested without any prior notice on February 16 and transferred to Tehran’s Qarchak Prison to serve her four-year prison sentence. According to Iranwire, Amir Raisian, the journalist’s lawyer, stated in an interview that she was arrested hurriedly without any official notice because of the "fear of escaping." He said that authorities stated the journalist would escape the country before her detention. Amir Raisian also underlined that Nooshin’s had "no intention of leaving the country" as she was working on an art project by the time she was sentenced.

The journalist was first arrested in August 2019 over a Twitter account called “Yar Dabestani”, which was opposed to the Iranian Regime, was run by the journalist. The government supporters targeted her with running this account.

She was convicted of a five-year sentence in prison for “spreading anti-establishment propaganda” and four years for “insulting sanctities,” but the Tehran court imposed four-year in total.

This is not Nooshin’s first arrest. The journalist was arrested by the Revolutionary Guards on August 3, 2009, and released on bail 72 days later on October 13, 2009. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism demands the release of Noochin immediately and urges the Iranian judiciary to revisit their decision. The freedom to speech and expression is the birthright of every human, and a journalist must report the facts and share it with the public. Authorities must allow all of its citizens to practice their rights without fear of being prosecuted for it.

The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.

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